You can try taking green cuttings and attempt to root them in damp NOT WET perlite/potting soil. I sometimes wrap the tops in grafting tape to keep them from losing moisture. Put them in the shade and you might get some success. I did this on a wild tree a few years ago, and out of 12 cuttings, 3 rooted, so grab a lot!

Try some in water, and change the water daily. When you see roots, transfer to perlite/potting medium and pray.

You can try air layering them as well.

Go over to youtube and search for rooting green fig cuttings. You will probably find lots of instructional videos.

When you say green cuttings, what do you mean? Most of the branches are stiff and bark, and the green ones are small on the ends.

I meant "not dormant." All Figs go dormant in winter. That's the BEST time to take cuttings. Green is when the tree is actively growing and the sap is flowing. You will see, when you cut a limb, sap will flow. In summer, your entire tree is actively growing, even the parts that don't look green. Cut them. It will be very clear to you. The best size for cuttings are the pencil size branches to maybe an inch in diam. Anything larger will be a little harder to root, but it can happen.

In some of the countries where Fig trees are native, they often just lay cuttings in a trench under ground where it's warm in partial shade, and those cuttings root and grow right there! I've tried that with dormant cuttings and it's my favorite way to root cuttings, but I do live in a Mediterranean climate. It's like Greece and Italy here. You could try that method too.

You have a ton of cuttings on that tree. Just try a lot of different ways. Something will work.

If there is a long enough sucker there at the bottom you can stick it into a pot of soil and let the magic happen over time. Also, take cuttings from any wood at least a year old - it should be brown. Leave at least two nodes to every cutting you attempt to root.

Wrap them in a damp newspaper, then wrap that in a dark plastic bag. Put it on top of your fridge or anywhere warm. Check in a week and if you see white root bumps, that's good. Put it back and wait another week. Get your pots or planting holes geared up and all together. Plant these cuttings most of the way, so that they can conserve their moisture and energy best.

Komal

after taking your cuttings as above posters suggest then do this.

One more option -

Look at base of tree, you can take a shovel the large kind that you step on to dig and dig down semi deep in circular pattern and dig up part of small portion of tree.

Yes you will rip and severe roots as you dig (does not matter) but you should also get enough of them attached to what you dug up then plant in container and watch how it grows.

Best to replant dug up plant in new container right there at the site and take home keep in shaded area until it takes hold and comes around.

Martin

Since the tree has sentimental value, wait till it is dormant to take cuttings.

I'm lazy so I use the paper towel method for rooting. Wrap the ends with wet paper towels and put them in an enclosed plastic container. After a while, roots form so long as the paper towels are damp. You can do this in winter at your house and pot them up in spring to give out next year.

Thank you all for the tips. I'm going to try the cuttings method this weekend. While I would like to wait for it to go dormant, we are hoping to put the house up for sale soon, so I won't have the time to do so. I'm going to try digging up a part of the tree from the bottom also after I take enough cuttings. Thanks all for the help!

Komal, I wish you huge success! I'm sure you'll get a few clones, and from those, you can make more depending on how big your family is! Since you do plan to list the house, you might want to read the Buying and Selling Houses forum here on GW. Lots of good ideas there for choosing realtors, staging homes for sale, etc.

So sorry for the loss of your mom. I hope the house sells easily and that all your cuttings root!

I went this weekend and took various cuttings from all over and put in a bucket of water. Looked this morning and all the branches are dried up with dried leaves. What did I do wrong? Should I have kept it inside and not on the patio in full sun? Put in soil directly instead of water?

ALWAYS keep cuttings in the shade. Also, remove all the leaves except maybe one tiny one, and cut that in half. There are no ROOTS to support the leaves.

The cuttings aren't dead, but take some out of the water and try a few of the suggested methods in this thread, including potting soil and perlite or vermiculite. But first remove all the leaves. Sun is bad for fresh cuttings until they get some nice roots. Even then, once potted, they need to transition to full sun.

It's like a fair skinned baby (and these are babies) spending 12 hours in the sun. 3rd degree burns!

Sounds like those cuttings got roasted! Best way to learn is by screwing up, so congratulations, you're on the path ;)

Ahh got it. Will try it tonight!

Get some more cuttings, don't put all of your eggs in one basket this time.

I did the paper towel trick with cuttings from my m-i-l's 40+ year old fig. Just cut some slim branches, wrapped them in wet paper towels and put the ends in a ziplock baggie. Put it on a shelf in the garage, kept the paper towels damp and they were all well rooted just fine in a few weeks.

I saw roots on one of the cuttings...yay! Still holding out hope for the others, and if not, I'll go back and get more to try the paper towel method. Thanks for all the help!

Go to you tube and look up rooting Fig cuttings in a plastic bag.